Saw 3D. It...wasn't very good, but it was nowhere near as bad as the irredeemable, should have killed the series fourth entry that still gives me nightmares (how could it be that bad AND that popular? How? This is the crap that keeps me up at night). There was an interesting dialog going on about the line between fame and infamy and how the media handles crime and elevates the criminal for ratings, but it was bogged down by mind-numbing 3D and editing provided by a crack-smoking monkey.

"Happy-Go-Lucky". Repeat viewing. Overwhelming frustration and sadness again that Sally Hawkins didn't get nominated for that performance, but extremely relieved and happy that it remained as joyous, funny and life-affirming as it did on the first go.

Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. The more and more I think about (and it is one that is seemingly on a repetitive loop in my mind) the more I think it could perhaps be her finest work to day. So stripped back, so precise, patient and minimal and beguiling in its use of colour, light and performance. It is sort of like Lost in Translation (one way to look at it is as a prequel to Translation, actually) in some ways, but it is definitely its own creature. Harris Savides has clearly learnt a lot from his time with Gus Van Sant and there are some truly magical moments where the camera lingers on people, objects and moments for just the perfect amount of time. With this and Greenberg, Savides' lensing of Los Angeles in 2010 has been like a stunning miracle of cinematography. So stunning and gorgeous. There is one specific zoom out of Dorff and Fanning that moves so achingly slow and yet feels thematically spot on. It's a fantastic film and one that will surely get up the nose of her naysayers as well as a lot of her fans, too, who just aren't willing to be that specifically arthouse (it doesn't have someone like Bill Murray to allow for crossover viewers, for instance).

Dorff is great, but the movie belongs to Fanning. Unlike her sister at that age, Elle is so natural and you can't see her A-C-T-I-N-G at all.

Poison (1991) : It's only been like 5 minutes and the movie is quite eccentric so I don't know yet what I think of it. Random thoughts: One sex/rape scene reminded me of the scene in Brokeback Mountain and the angel theme made me wonder if Kushner was inspired by it (plus: AIDS allegory (it was, wasn't it?)) Not sure if the movie said something new to me or just something already familiar just in a poetic way.

Since I saw three more films the last 30 hours and I feel like sharing:

Vertigo - Not much to say. You all know how I felt about it. You felt it too. Except(!!): Kim Novak looked/acted/sounded sooo similarly to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. I tell you, Sharon totally (and brilliantly) copied her.

Certified Copy - Similar feelings to Poison. Despite the good (I wasn't crazy about them) performances and the imaginative concept, I felt like the "artsy" element only tried to mask a lack of things to say. I don't feel I learned anything new about relationships.

Random Harvest - My first Greer Garson! Such a beautiful/expressive face! Great performance and great film! I loved how it skipped the melodrama by not showing (spoiler) her illness and the death of their child. And I loved Susan Peters's final monologue!

I swear I'm not trying to take control of the comments threads lately. I don't want to be the Blanchett of filmexperience :p

Nathaniel, I make it no secret that I love me some bad horror movies. They are my kryptonite, and this particular series is not nearly as awful as imagined. Plus, each film has been an excellent showcase for scene chewing work from an actress (in the Bette Davis "I wouldn't pay to see real life on the screen, either" school of acting), though none have topped Shawnee Smith's bizarre and moving portrayal of a heroin addict transformed by a psychopath in the original. She actually makes my Supporting Actress line-up in 2004 and would win, too, if I wasn't afraid of being viewed as far crazier than I am.

No Man of Her Own from 1950 with Barbara Stanwyck directed by Mitchell Leisen. It was soapy but quite compelling with tremendous acting and solid direction. Skip the remake, Mrs. Winterbourne, with Ricki Lake.

I just finished watching season 1 of "Life" with Damian Lewis. He's an interesting unusual actor. He looks like he could be in the Tilda Swinton family.

James T: After I saw Random Harvest, I went on a Ronald Colman binge: Lost Horizon, Prisoner of Zenda, and A Double Life (that one was quite odd). And I read a biography.

joel - I've seen those two, and prefer the Stanwyck (who wouldn't?) but there's another remake of that Cornell Woolrich novel that I like best: J'ai Espouse Une Ombre (I Married a Shadow) with the wonderful Nathalie Baye, in a kind of French hommage to Hitchcock.

I wouldn't want to be responsible for recommending A Double Life. Colman won the Best Actor Oscar for it, but it's kind of creepy and the acting veers into the florid and melodramatic, yet he's strangely unself-conscious about it.

Colman plays an actor who identifies with his roles so much, that when he plays Othello, he goes out and kills in real life. I guess this somehow resonated with the Academy of the time.

Au Revoirs Les Enfants, which absolutely blew me away. Beautiful writing, acting, and directing. Those last 20 minutes were so unbelievably wrenching. Only my second Louis Malle film, and I can't wait to see more, because this and Elevator to the Gallows are both fabulous.

The Social Network, and I didn't like it as much as most people. I didn't expect the film to end where it did and I didn't find it that interesting or engaging. And I thought I was in the perfect age group and demographic (daily Facebook user and everything, but who isn't?) to enjoy it.

I've been calling for a Bening win all season, but I'm sorry, this is Natalie Portman's to lose. It's a fascinating performance in an interesting film. I saw it at an FYC screening and not one person spoke or got up as the credits started rolling. We were in awe.

I've been calling for a Bening win all season, but I'm sorry, this is Natalie Portman's to lose. It's a fascinating performance in an interesting film. I saw it at an FYC screening and not one person spoke or got up as the credits started rolling. We were in awe.

The last films I've seen were WINTER'S BONE (B+, Jennifer Lawrence sure is amazing), RED (B-, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich cracked me up every time they spoke) and MOTHER AND CHILD (B-, Annette Bening sure is having quite a year).

Next movie trips: LET ME IN, THE SOCIAL NETWORK and MACHETE. Unfortunately, COPIE CONFORME should be the next movie I'd see but I'm skipping Estoril Film Festival. Too much study to do.

Before that, it was Bullitt. Not as good as I expected, though the famous car chase through San Francisco was glorious and lived up to the hype... for a change. The rest of the movie? Eh. (I actually fell asleep in the middle of it)

Certified Copy it`s sad that there`s no chance of Juliette Binoche getting Oscar attention (or the movie getting a release for at all for that matter)i think she was every bit deserving of that award in Cannes.and i generally liked the film a lot. one of Kiarostami`s best, and that`s saying a lot!

Earlier I watched Alfie (2004), which I hadn't seen in quite a while and actually really enjoyed. I've never seen the original so I can't compare the two, but I honestly feel it's an underrated film.

I just finished watching Closer, which I loved and continue to love more with each viewing. The whole cast was great, but Natalie Portman just killed in that role. I would've nominated the whole ensemble for Oscars but if I had to choose only two I'd say the right one's got the attention. I just love the way the characters speak in that film.

I Am LoveI had no idea what to expect and was really sleepy but after the first few minutes I was utterly enchanted by the nuanced style of this film and didn't look away for the full 2 hours. It was great. Still processing everything.

The last movie I watched was Easy A, and I mostly appreciated Patricia Clarkson and sexy Stanley Tucci, but for the most part I kept thinking it didn't add up to Mean Girls, Juno or Election - the great high school movies of the last decade or so. This weekend I'm watching Reprise, a movie I zipped because the FilmBitch awards recommended it. Thanks in advance and enjoy your vacation.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Woody's still got it: "He left me for another woman. Deceased. They're always the stiffest competition." He hasn't straddled the line between light and dark so well in a while.

The Social Network - I thought it was overlong and could have been cut down a bit, but otherwise really good. Good performances - particularly from Jesse Eisenberg, and I'm always surprised when I remember that Justin Timberlake can act. Quite engaging, and funny in places too. Without the humour it would have been really boring. Though at the end my friends and I laughed and I'm not sure we were supposed to....

just saw both Kill Bills for the first time today and yesterday. i was so entertained! i can't believe it took me that many years to get that done. my only complaint would be the epic battle scene in the first film where uma battles all the crazy 88s - it went on a bit too long before we finally got to o-ren. i got desensitized to the action. but overall, thrilling and delightful.

'Valmont" (because of that picture you posted the other day of Annette Bening!) and thinking about how if it came out in 2010 everyone would react to Bening in it like Carey Mulligan 2.0 but it seems people were a lot harsher on movies back then......it seems like such a sophisticated breakout role to me.

Another Year, which I liked but didn't love. The acting, unsurprisingly, was fantastic.

It's been that kind of year for me at the movies -- lots of films I've liked but none that I've really loved, except maybe Toy Story 3, which is kind of disappointing since last year there were a lot of movies that I really did love.

I watched two films yesterday. The one was Spike Jonze's short I'm Here, which I watched on YouTube and found very sweet and touching, it actually made me tear up. The other was Maurice. I've been meaning to watch it ever since I read and loved the book in the summer. It's absolutely wonderful and left me with a huge smile on my face.I think Maurice was Bright Star of 1987, a great film that was only nominated for its costumes. I also think they should have split the Volpi Cup in three, because I found Rupert Graves equally amazing as Alec Scudder.

And I feel like mentioning that I'm actually mad about For Colored Girls. Did they have to give this play to TYLER PERRY? If they had to give it to an African American director, why not Spike Lee or Lee Daniels? They can actually direct.

For Colored Girls – I didn’t like the movie. Very depressing, dark, and still carries the stench of Tyler Perry’s limited comprehension of how to properly interpret high art. The performance from the female ensemble across the board is solid.

I watched Funny Face last night for the first time. I am shocked that it's taken me 26 years into my blessed gay life to watch this movie. Truly fluff, but cute and entertaining to the max. Kay Thompson's hands!

I just saw Fair Game and thought it was fascinating. Really solid and effective political film, and I thought Naomi Watts was incredible. In a just world she would be at the top of the buzzed-about female performances, but I feel like the Academy will ignore her cause they always do.

I saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers earlier tonight at Lincoln Center, and was delighted to discover that the elderly gentleman sitting directly in front of me was none other than the film's director, Stanley Donen.

Regarding your Toweleroad comment, Nat R, I don't know if the film wasn't about immobility -- it certainly felt like it was. Except that it was about a different attitude towards immobility.

James Franco makes Aron more sympathiable than it appears he is.

Anyway, I thought this movie was very perceptive. Not every very good movie has to be profound, I'm slowly realizing. Though this was, in many ways. Yet "perceptive" and "riveting" and "energetic" are much more apt tags.

Emerging from weeks in Lurkerville...saw Blue Valentine on Friday and The King's Speech yesterday. Loved them both. And I really want Helena Bonham Carter to win the Oscar for this performance. She probably won't.

I finally saw "Hedwig and the angry inch yesterday" - then again this morning. Feel like I have adored the wrong movie (Moulin Rouge) all these years. Hedwig is so subtle and layered in ways MR can't begin to touch.

I saw "Howl" yesterday (it just opened in Montréal), and I'm amazed at how little buzz there has been over James Franco's performance. He was fantastic as Allen Ginsburg! (The trial scenes, though, fell kind of flat.)

Throwing a quick, disappointing, unmemorable, and otherwise disappointing movie into the hat -- Splice. They at least spent a little time with character and a half ass story, though apparently plot was the master and commander here. Brody and Polley were interesting but absolutely no chemistry and serving as ubber-dubber big brain scientists left a lot to be desired. The creature effects were uninspired and while it was interesting as the creature morphed and changed and became something other than what everyone thought, it was predictable and sadly unrewarding. You could make dinner, read a magazine, play scrunchy toy with your dog, make popcorn in another room and come back to this movie and the only thing you will have missed will have been ten minutes of exposition, more wide-eyed surprise that by pouring a bunch of stuff in a beaker created some bubbly, gaseous thing to much chagrin - ah, I'd say pass on it.

I'm going to write a full review, drop by and see me sometime.cheers->

@Glenn - good point about Greenberg, and "Savides' lensing of Los Angeles in 2010" but would argue Dakota Fanning is pretty amazing (Hound dog, Runaways) she will be some major talent in the not so distant future, bet on it.

@Katie - amazing how Harry Potter gets away with some much crap (at times) I'm following the series, well my wife is which pretty much means I am (kinda like Sam J. in Pulp fiction in reference to his girlfriend being vegetarian which pretty much means I'm vegetarian but I do like a tasty burger!).

I wanted to watch "Scream" again after 14 years since it came out at theatres. What a baffling discovery. I thought the movie has aged badly, it looked so outdated and many of the performances irked me (particularly Neve Campbell's) this second time around. I remember when it came out it was such a hit and it was freakingly scary. Now it seemed slow, clumsy, even my boyfriend (who had never watched it before) fell asleep.